Richard Jacobs

Who is Richard Jacobs?

Richard J. Jacobs is a Reform rabbi and the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform movement in North America which represents an estimated 1.5 million Reform Jews in nearly 900 synagogues across the United States and Canada. Before being installed as URJ president in June 2012, Jacobs was senior rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York, where he served for nearly two decades.

Jacobs was among a group of American Reform rabbis that called for “urgent change” in the Reform movement. He focuses on environmentalism, social justice and liberal Zionism alongside traditional worship. He has served on the boards of several Jewish organizations, including the World Union for Progressive Judaism, American Jewish World Service and the New Israel Fund.

He is listed as number six in The Daily Beast and Newsweek’s list of “America’s Top 50 Rabbis for 2013” and holds position 26 on the Jerusalem Post’s 2012 list of “50 most influential Jews in the world.”